Below, from my collection, are the 1930's poster stamps made by the American Bank Note Company for the Eaton Paper
Corporation depicting views of New York City and advertising Eaton's Fine Letter Papers for the 1939 New York World's Fair.

They looked so real, that the Post Office told them
to stop producing them. People were actually putting these stamps on items to mail.

New York from the Air

Brooklyn Bridge

The Little Church Around the Corner

Columbia University

Flagship Over Downtown New York

New York Public Library

United States Liner Manhattan

Central Park In April

Pennsylvania R.R. Broadway Limited

George Washington Bridge

The Eaton, Crane & Pike Company Factory is a historic
former factory building at 75 S. Church Street in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The brick factory building was built in 1883
by the Terry Clock Company, which had its origins in the manufacture of clocks by Eli Terry in 1793. That company and its
successors owned the facility until 1899, when it was acquired by Arthur W. Eaton and his business associates, the forerunners
of the Eaton Paper Company.

The factory was
listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.

Please let me clarify, however, that I am not a professor, although
I should have been :-), and serve the College of Communication and Fine Arts at the University of Memphis as a volunteer this
day as I have for many years.

My sincerest
thanks and best regards to all of my friends and the great citizens of Wynne and Coober Pedy.

Stamp collecting was about the biggest part of my life
when I was ten years old, next to my best pals Cathy Clendennon, Phillip and Linda Settles, Billy and Jack Lufkin, Jimmy and
Buster Pearson, May Eaton, Scott and Rick Morrow, Stan Davis, Ronnie and Larry Becker, Richard and Lee Carter, and Terry Moore.

I loved the piano.and listened to Elvis, the Beatles, George Gershwin,
the Rollng Stones and the Four Seasons everyday with my pals.

Monopoly and chess marathons, the all night horror
movies on Saturday, and the endless wiffle ball games in the street are among my greatest memories.

Some of my childhood pals are with the Lord now. They were my brothers and sisters and our friendships,
and the memory of them, will stay in my mind and heart forever.

Ironically, my stamp club still meets across the street from the homes where we grew up in and played together,
on Rolling Oaks Drive.

Rolling Oaks was a street
of dreams in 1962.

Maybe it was because, like
our President, John F. Kennedy, we believed in Camelot.

I
also believed in and loved my friends, the music, and stamp collecting,

"Timed to coincide with the centenary of the first United States postage stamp, the Centenary
International Philatelic Exhibition was held in New York City from May 17 to 25, 1947. In addition to the stamp issued for
the centenary (Scott USA 947), a sheet issued on May 19, 1947, marked the occasion and served as a souvenir of the exhibition.
The imperforate sheet contained reproductions of the first postage stamps in different colors—the 5-cent blue picturing
Benjamin Franklin and the 10-cent brown orange picturing George Washington. Text around the border of the sheet provided
information about the production of the sheet."

Represented
are great examples of the first day cover cachets created by PentArts for the 1947 Exhibition.

PentArts was part of a company known as Collectors Surplus of Kansas City, Missouri. There
is little information to be found about the company as of this entry.

It was honored with Scott Catalog #1185 on August
20, 1961 in a first day ceremony in San Diego.

The 4 cent blue stamp was designed by John Maass
for the United States Postal Service, was perforated 11x10.5, is a rotary press printing and features illutrations of the
Navy's first plane, the Curtis A-1 of 1911 and Naval Air Wings.

And of course my favorite Naval Aviators are my pals,
and the subject of the trial 70th anniversary stamp I created for them below. See them when you can. You will never forget
them.

For the next few weeks I'll be talking
about the first day covers of ArtCraft along with everything else.

ArtCraft closed it's doors recently after 76 years of making philatelic history.

I'm predicting a sudden, salubrious escalation in the value
of the ArtCraft cachet, all ArtCraft first day covers and ArtCraft portrait cards.Including those connected to the Postal Commemorative Society

Their departure signals the end of an extraordinarily crucial,
very important, highly significant and exceedingly meaningful period in philately

A mournful signal which will be heard around the world and
lamented throughout the multitude of collectors

Leo
and Sam August treasured their associations with the world's greatest philatelists

Leo's contributions to our hobby were significant enough
to earn the coveted Luft Award and a place in the American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame.

ArtCraft has well-earned it's place in the great chronological
record in the history of philately.

Their
raised ink, line-engraved intaglio printed cachets rank among the most aesthetic in the world.

ArtCraft cachets are not just beautiful.

They are works
of art that showcase the wonders of the world and illuminate the powers of human creativity and ingenuity.

The Coober Pedy CoverOne of the World's Great Philatelic Rarities

Could this become la pièce
de résistance de toute la modern Australian philatélie ?

Coober Pedy is a town in northern South Australia. The town is sometimes referred to as the "opal
capital of the world" because of the quantity of precious opals that are mined there. Coober Pedy is renowned for its
below-ground residences,called "dugouts", which are built in this fashion due to the scorching daytime heat.
The name "Coober Pedy" comes from the local Aboriginal term kupa-piti, which means "white man's hole".

Opal was found in Coober Pedy on 1 February 1915; since then the town has been supplying most of the world's gem-quality
opal. Coober Pedy today relies as much on tourism as the opal mining industry to provide the community with employment
and sustainability. Coober Pedy has over 70 opal fields and is the largest opal mining area in the world.

Coober
Pedy - no village, no buildings, no roads, just desert, mountains dotted with boulders. A bizarre lunar landscape, but
for opal seekers is the most exciting place on earth, where again every day is the true challenge, happiness and luck just
a shovel width apart and where life is defined by two words: winners and losers. Coober Pedy, grab your hat, throw it
into the air and where it lands start digging !